Turkey Culture Minister Stresses Expansion Of Iran-Turkey Ties

Tehran, Feb 2, IRNA -- Turkeyˈs new Culture and Tourism Minister Omer Celik emphasized development of cultural ties between Iran and Turkey on Friday. He made the remarks in a farewell meeting with outgoing Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour. ˈRelations between Iran and Turkey civilizations are historical. Ankara is ready to do its best in helping to implementation of Iran’s cultural programs for 2013.ˈ Iranian ambassador to Turkey for his part welcomed development of cultural relations between the two Muslim countries. ˈJoint cultural, historical and religious backgrounds of Iranian and Turkish nation are precious potential which can deepen friendship and cooperation between the two states.ˈ Meanwhile, outgoing Iranian ambassador to Turkey in his farewell meeting with Turkey’s Parliament Speaker Jemil Cicek called for promotion of mutual parliamentarian cooperation with Turkey. Hosseinpour invited Turkeyˈs parliament speaker to pay a visit to Tehran in the near future. Turkey’s parliament speaker, for his part, called Turkey and Iran as two strategic regional countries and noted expansion of cooperation with Iran a priority in Ankara’s foreign policy. “Iran and Turkey have great responsibilities towards regional issues and their cooperation can help to the resolution of regional problems.” Cicek welcomed Iranian envoy’s invitation to visit Iran and expressed hope that he would meet with his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani in Tehran in the near future. Hosseinpour earlier had met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “Nothing should affect high level of relations between Iran and Turkey,” Davutoglu said. During the meeting on Friday, Iranian envoy to Turkey, for his part, pointed to the expansion of trade volume between Tehran and Ankara to $24 billion in 2012 from $5 billion dlrs in 2008, and added that Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to enhancement of ties with the neighboring and brotherly country of Turkey. Trade between Turkey and Iran has risen sharply in the past ten years. Turkey was Iran’s fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, purchasing around 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran’s oil exports. In a meeting on Ankara last October, Iranian and Turkish officials explored avenues to further broaden mutual cooperation between the two countries in the transit and transportation sector. During the meeting in Ankara, Iran’s ambassador to Turkey and Turkish Transportation and Communication Minister Binali Yildirim urged prolonged efforts to expand ties, especially in the field of transportation and communication, as a main contributor to the development of all-out ties between the two neighboring countries. The two officials also stressed the necessity for stronger relations and pursuing the planned rise of mutual trade to $30 billion by 2015./end